Page 4 of Daddy Bear Picnic

I nodded. My mom had told me before coming up here that the town were always so helpful, even a little bit in everyone’s business, but outside of that, everyone here from how she recalled had a heart of gold. I nodded to the brothers. I was starving now that the food had been placed in front of me. I knew I should’ve had more than a gas station hot dog on the drive up—and even that was a wild choice given how much I drove without stopping.

2. ELIJAH

The house on Plum Lane had been an eyesore for the longest time. While I didn’t live on the street, and the house was set a little further back than the others, it was definitely annoying to see. The property was fenced in and had the largest growth of grass and weeds that nobody was allowed to touch. Not for lack of trying, I knew the mayor and town council had been trying to get something done to the property for years, but nothing, well, not until Malcolm fell—quite literally on the porch, right through it.

He seemed like a nice guy and as I sat with him to eat breakfast, or second breakfast for me, I got to know him a little better.

“If my folks knew you were trying to get something done about the house, they might’ve sold it back to the town,” he said, scooping up the scrambled eggs and letting out the most adorable groan as he ate them.

“If that happened, then you might not have come to visit.”

He nodded, washing the food down with the fresh orange juice. “And I would’ve absolutely hated that because then I wouldn’t have inherited it. And it’s no every day you can find yourself on the property ladder.”

My brother, noseying around the table as if he hadn’t already run a polish through the pictures on the wall once today. “So you intend on selling it then?” he asked. “It’s something you’re doing for profit?”

Malcolm shrugged. “It really all depends on how I like it here,” he said. “But I’m not here to flip it or anything, I really want to make it look like I remember when I was a kid.”

“Will you be letting it?” Ezekiel continued. “Like one of those online rentals, you know, the ones people aren’t licensed to run but they do anyway for a quick buck.”

“You mean Airbnb?” he asked, shaking his head. “Nope. Like you said, it’s a sticky area with licenses and stuff.”

“Come, Eze, enough with the interrogation,” I said, intervening. “He’s just a little pissy because he doesn’t want the competition.” And I didn’t want to say anything in front of Malcolm, but this wasn’t exactly somewhere tourists came. We mostly catered to relatives of people in town, and that business couldn’t be relied on.

Even with the slight interrogation, Malcolm continued to smile. “I’m a painter, in case you wanted to know.” His eyes scanning the room. “I do murals and stuff, but also some canvas work, although that’s mostly abstract work.”

“Abstract, huh?” Ezekiel sat across from him at the table. “Like throwing paint?”

“That’s one way it can be applied to the canvas. I like to create a color story, apply it to a palette knife, and then feel the emotions those colors give me. It’s really just about expression.”

“You brought some with you in your U-Haul?” I asked. “Because this place could use with something fun in it.”

My brother rolled his eyes. We’d been doing this back and forth with each other since we were kids. We were both now in our forties, and it wasn’t old. I would probably continue to tease him for the rest of my life. He dealt with the decor and running the operations, while I was in the background, where I didn’t interact with anyone. Except for Malcolm, there was a magnetism about him. I don’t think I was capable of stopping even if I tried.

“How long do you think you’ll be staying with us?” he asked.

Malcolm looked to me. “If the house needs to come down, it could be a while.” He chuckled. “But I don’t think that will be the case. Will it?” His big eyes, in need of an answer, of my reassurance.

“Unlikely it’ll need to come down. But to be safe, I’d prefer to check it out before sending you in. You’ve already injured yourself once today.”

He snickered. “So maybe a night or two then. Don’t worry, I’m good for the money. My art sells.” He let out a giggle before stopping himself, his face flushing red. “Do you know when you’ll be going over to look at it?”

I nodded. “I’ve got to go to the post office to collect some stuff, make my rounds in town, and then I’ll head over, probably late afternoon. I think the porch might have to come away though, but I can build steps up to the house easy.”

“And I’ll pay you,” he blurted.

That was my brother’s doing, the comment about me doing business and the idea that we didn’t do freebies, when we did, or at least, I did them for guys who were cute and especially those who were new to town, had a box full of stuffed toys on their passenger seat, and a teddy bear tattoo on one wrist, with a bear paw on his other. I’d need to do more research before I could say for certain whether he was a little, but all signs were pointing in that direction.

I left the table and pulled Ezekiel away to tell him to be nice to the guy. It was a surprise to see him act like this, but he had been acting strange the past couple of days. I half wondered if he’d been seeing someone. He was awful at keeping secrets, they quite literally ate him alive, and that’s exactly what this looked like from him.

Pineberry Falls had a tight-knit community of folks, and everyone was already on the lookout for the guy who’d rode intotown with a U-Haul on the back of his car. I was looking forward to letting everyone know who he was and why he was here.

First stop on my jaunt around town was to the post office attached to the small convenience store. I had mail to send. And that’s where I bumped into Gladys, one of the big gossips. She wore the brightest yellow dress covered in white dots, a large wicker hat which nearly had one of my eyes out when she looked up at me.

“Elijah,” she said with a chuckle. “I wondered what that big shadow over me was.”

“Good morning, Gladys, I hope you’re not being trouble,” I said.

She pretended to swot me with a hand. “I’m never any trouble. Unless you’ve heard something. And you know I can’t resist a little gossip when it avails itself to me.” She winked.

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